Health Tips To Cut Your Risk Of Dementia By About 50 Percent

Unknown to many, Dementia is not a sentence that is handed down to the elderly and old, there are many things that one can do to prevent dementia as you age and most of that has to start when you are still in the early ages of between 30 to 40.


 
A Lancet Commissions report from 24 leading dementia researchers says that between 35 to 55 percent of dementia comes from preventable causes. Thailand Medical News has compiled a list of health tips that if you follow, could help ward off dementia that is affecting about 52 million people worldwide.
 
Keep Your Mind Intellectually Stimulated
Individuals who don’t have at least a secondary school degree are at higher risk for developing dementia, according to the report. This could be because more education usually means a higher socioeconomic status, but it could have to do with learning itself. “Cognitive resilience in later life is likely to be enhanced by building brain reserve earlier in life through education and other intellectual stimulation,” write the study authors. 
 
One of the secrets to preventing dementia as you age is to keep your minds active. Take short courses, learn a new language, improve your computing skills, improve your knowledge and keep abreast with latest technological advances, read a lot (preferably books). Indulge in board games like chess or sudoku etc.
 
Check your hearing
After age 55, hearing loss is associated with higher risk of dementia. It’s probably not a cause as older adults are already at generally higher risk for both dementia and hearing loss but fixing hearing could make cognitive loss easier. For one thing, dementia might be even more stressful for people who can’t hear. Plus, people might disengage socially when they have a hard time hearing, which could speed up any cognitive decline, say the researchers. Hearing loss is someti mes associated with Alzheimer’s as well, though generally, the causes of the two diseases are different

Get your blood pressure down
Without a healthy heart, it could be hard for your body to balance out the harmful free radicals in your body. In turn, that could cause oxidative stress and inflammation, which could damage your neurons. 
 
Preventing high blood pressure and hypertension is almost another whole chapter by itself, but do you own due diligence as to how to keep your blood pressure down including dieting, exercise, medications etc. 

Manage your diabetes
Having diabetes raises the risk of dementia, though researchers aren’t sure why. The theory is that when you can’t control your blood sugar, more goes to your brain. In turn, that can cause damage that leads to loss of cognitive function. 
 
Again, preventing diabetes or managing diabetes are whole chapters by itself, the key thing reduce and eliminate sugar from your diets in whichever you can.

Lose some weight
Obesity raises your risk of dementia possibly because it puts you at risk for high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes. By keeping to a healthy weight, you can cut your risk for all three. This isn’t the only thing you can do to combat these diseases
 
Exercise
Exercise is not only for maintain a health weigh but also for increasing health cellular functions in the body. Brisk walks, light jogging, swimming, tennis, badminton are excellent regimens to main o a weekly basis. Exercise also produces certain neurotransmitters, chemicals and also hormones that are god for maintain good brain health.

Quit smoking
If lung cancer wasn’t enough to make you kick your cigarette addiction, maybe this will: Smokers are at higher risk of dementia. Researchers think that a couple things could be at play. For one thing, smoking isn’t healthy for your heart, and cardiovascular problems are linked with dementia. For another, the chemicals in the smoke could be toxic to your brain. What you put in your body has a huge impact on how it performs, especially later in life.

Schedule a visit to a psychologists or counsellor
There’s a link between depression and dementia, but researchers aren’t sure which causes the other. Depression might be an early sign in people who already have dementia, but it could also be a separate risk factor. Because depression affects stress hormones, brain neurons, and the hippocampus (the part of the brain that deals with emotions and memory), it could increase dementia risk. Some antidepressants decrease the production of amyloid, which are proteins that can build up into plaque. 

Socialize
Social isolation is associated with dementia. Like depression, though, researchers aren’t sure which one comes first. Either way, spending time with loved ones is a fun way to keep your brain active and raise your spirits both of which can protect against cognitive decline. Expanding your social circle is also another good way. Join support groups, meet up events and other social or community projects.

A Health Diet
A diet to prevent dementia would involve normalizing vitamin D levels; optimize omega-3 intake; restrict omega-6 fats, fructose, protein, and carbs; and limit daily eating to a brief window of about 5 hours each day because this type of intermittent fasting   encourages autophagy, which recycles human cells and is a key part of the body’s immune defense against bacterial infection.
 
Brain researchers have developed a “diet for the mind” that combines two heart-healthy eating approaches, the Mediterranean diet and a low-sodium plan. They call this the MIND diet (for Mediterranean-Dash Intervention for Neurogenerative Delay).
 
When researchers at Rush University Medical Center put the eating plan to tests, they found that the MIND diet could reduce the risk of developing dementia by as much as 53 percent. Even people who only partially adhered to the plan cut their dementia risk by a third. The plan involves:

Fish: eat it once per week
Poultry: eat it twice a week
Beans: three or more servings a week
Nuts: five or more servings a week
Green leafy vegetables: at least six servings a week
Other vegetables: at least one serving a day
Berries: two or more servings a week
Wine: one glass a day
Olive Oil: use as your main cooking oil.
 
The foods to limit include red meat, fried foods, and sweets. The key think to avoid is sugar, salt, fats. The diet emphasizes moderate lean protein: You’re aiming for at least 14 servings a week from fish, poultry, nuts, and beans. The diet authors say if you can pull this off, you could cut your risk of dementia  by 55%.
 
Reference:  Dementia prevention, intervention, and care
Prof Gill Livingston, MD ,Andrew Sommerlad, MSc,Vasiliki Orgeta, PhD,Sergi G Costafreda, PhD,Jonathan Huntley, PhD, Prof David Ames, MD, et al.  The Lancet  https://doi.org/10.1016/S01406736(17)31363-6